Today we are going to talk about Psalm 37:23-24
If a person who trusts in God walks around,
God watches their steps and controls those steps. It doesn’t mean you won’t stumble but He is
there to hold your hand. Life is about
steps and every day is a new step in your life.
Most of the time steps are challenging.
Before I go to the next stage, I must go through the steps and if the
steps are deep, I might have to press my body to go higher.
It's for a good reason we have steps to go
higher and if you don’t want to climb those steps then you won’t reach the
highest level. Climbing steps you must
start with one step after another. You
can’t jump from the first level to last one.
Only your feet can climb the steps. Your arms cannot do it and your legs must
accept to carry the entire weight of your body.
If your legs don’t accept to go up, your body can’t do anything. What is the importance of legs in your
life? They have a role to play. That role is not small compared to the
hands. There are things that legs can do
but hands can’t. Your legs have 3 parts:
(11. Feet which helps you to balance
your legs
(22. Joints (knees and ankles) that
make your legs move in different directions and help you to climb.
(33. Sometimes your legs can tell
you that they can’t do it alone and you need the help of your brain, eyes and the
support of whole body. When you fall downstairs,
your hands will try to stop your fall.
God has been teaching us about steps and
they are very important to understand.
We as human beings love everything to be easy so we can enjoy life. I want money, a big house, I want joy without
difficulty, I want these things just coming to me without working hard.
When you climb, you feel pain in your
muscles, joints and some people are attacked by sickness that attacks their
joints so their body feels heavier than their legs can support. Because it is a matter of life and we all
want to be happy, successful, and we just want a good easy way.
When Jesus came, they wanted to crown him
king but Jesus did not accept that crown of being a king at that time, “I’m a King,
yes but I have to go through some steps of life first and I will only accept my
crown after my crucifixion and then I will become the redeemer and saviour of
the world”.
The same Jesus that was born didn’t perform
miracles from day one, He took His time and at the right time He did
things. Do we like to wait for the right
time or do we try to impose on God our time?
Do we accept God’s plan and accept to go through the steps first?
We have stages so people who are seated can
see us who are on the stage. Those on
the seats will follow you who are on the stage with their eyes and ears. When there is dark, everyone (even insects)
follow the light. We must ask ourselves,
“Am I the light of this world?”
Jesus was supposed to be crucified before
obtaining the crown. You can’t know the
importance of health until you have been sick.
When you are hungry, you can appreciate food. Back home, there are families that have turns
to eat so some will get to eat on a Monday but not on Tuesday while others in
the family eat on the Tuesday. Many
families don’t have water and we must walk many miles to obtain water and that
water is very dirty but to boil the water it is many miles to obtain wood to
create fire. Many people die from the dysentery.
Children suffer as in world vision advertisements
and they have to go through those steps in life. This beautiful country we live is a step in
our lives and it is a blessing. Many
others don’t have what we have but many New Zealanders complain, “Oh this
government, oh we are suffering”. Many
people from other countries are desperate to live in this country. This is your step, a privilege to live in
this blessed country.
Sometimes I take the pride to give my New
Zealand passport when I travel. Do you
know the value of your country? We have
one of the most powerful passports and nationalities of this world. You have this big step that God has given you
where bribery is not possible. Go to
other countries and you will see that laws don’t respect justice because of
corruption. Students must bribe to get
their grades.
God continues to raise up New Zealand and
take care of us and gives us what we want.
What don’t you have here? You
have everything. You eat when you want,
sleep when you want, no restrictions, no fear.
That is one of the steps of life physically that God has given you.
The prodigal son asked for his blessing,
his inheritance to enjoy life. Blessings
were with the father and the father said, “You should wait for this you are too
young,” but the son said, “No I want it”.
Sometimes I think, can I give my car keys to Eden to drive my car? I can’t because Eden is only 10 years old and
she will crash. She must wait for the
right age even if she cries, I will tell her, “No you must wait and then learn
to drive and then pass a test”.
Once Eden passes the first test, she must
drive with someone next to her and then after the next test, she will be able
to drive with restrictions, she must only drive to 10pm and with no
passengers. Then she must go through
another test to get her full licence.
Where are we in the Kingdom of God? God is asking us to learn first before He
gives us what we ask. Do we read the Word
of God to know the rules of driving to heaven?
Do we move on?
I met with a person in Hamilton who has
been driving on learners’ licence for the past 30 years. One time the police asked for their
licence. The police said, “You don’t
have the right to drive”. He justified
it saying he didn’t have time or money to sit the test. For 35 years he didn’t stop and think, “This
is important for me and I need it”.
Another member of my family wanted an international
licence and he gave the testing station his restricted licence. We came here together and he’s been driving
forever. He wasn’t able to get the
international licence because he didn’t have a full licence.
God has given us everything that you need
and now it is for you to make a step to learn what is coming after this
life. If you want to enter Kingdom of
God, go to church, read bible, learn about the steps to enter the Kingdom of
God. We prefer to watch Netflix or YouTube
or Facebook but not even 3 minutes to thank God. We are in a journey, we must move forward and
climb the steps. If we don’t we will
stay in the same place and others will pass us
Are you waiting there expecting God to come
you or are you moving forward? Our
strength as human beings is being intelligent which means we can even kill a
lion before it can reach us with a gun and it will die with only 1 bullet. Human beings can make a lion to sleep with a
dart. We use our intelligence mostly to
create material things. Why don’t we use
our intelligence to come closer to God? Our
time on this earth is very short.
We are going to face eternity. Where are you going to live in eternity? Many talk about retirement and where they
will live but what about after life on this earth. That is why God is telling us that He will
hold our hands because we stumble sometimes.
We must accept to raise up our hand and ask for God to hold our hand.
Sometimes children try to take the child’s
hand and the child refuses. Once we saw
a child refused to take the father’s hand so the father left the child
there. We sometimes do that to God. He is ready to move forward but we stay
behind.
How often (like the prodigal son) do we
tell God, “This is what I want to do with my life, God bless me”. You take it and when you come back to God,
what are you going to bring back with you?
He gave you everything so when you come back, what will you present?
If your brain doesn’t tell your legs to
move, they won’t move. Make your brain
to communicate to your legs. How good
are you in managing your intelligence and making good decisions for your
eternal life and deciding where you want to be tomorrow? Some people are smart in reaching money or in
maths but not smart in searching eternal life.
Are you smart to tell God you are His child
and proud to come back home to God? When
you are in your home, you feel free.
When you have a shower you won’t be ashamed to be naked in water and you
are free to sing or dance. In the water
of life, are you free to present yourself naked and sing to God or do you feel
it is a burden for you? Do you feel like
postponing the Bible study even though you have nothing else to do?
Should we take a break when we are planning
our eternal life? We sometimes
disappoint our God. My young boy a few
days ago went out and a person rang me and said, “Ken is here”. He didn’t come home for 2 days.
I rang him, “Where are you”.
“I’m on my way”.
“Where were you?”
“The police stopped me on my way home”.
“Did the police tell you not to go home?”
He was mumbling. “I was given a warning and they took me”.
Meaning that sometimes, those that are
young spiritually do silly things but keep moving up the steps and holding onto
God. Someone holding your hand can pull
you up to renew your strength but they can’t pull you up unless you are willing
to hold their hand.
The police in New Zealand are very
good. You can joke with them and they
will reason with you. In my country if
the police tell you to stop and if you joke, they will stab you and if you keep
joking they will shoot you. No one will
ask what happened, the body will just stay there and even dogs may come and eat
you.
The police in New Zealand are even afraid
to touch you. Someone can do something
wrong and the police will beg you to come into the station, “If you cooperate,
we will make it less hard for you”. For
us in Congo, that does not exist.
The Holy Spirit lives like the New Zealand
police, it will ask us nicely, “Don’t do this”.
The New Zealand police have power to take you to jail and press
charges. The Holy Spirit will tell Jesus,
“You told me to stay behind with them and this is what Hayley did, Collen did
this” etc. The Holy Spirit is policing us and on the day of judgement the
actions will follow you. The Holy Spirit is pure and honest and right, He will
be trusted by the judge. What will you
say in front of God that day?
“God guide my steps”. Do I accept his guidance or not? If not, why not? What am I going to become tomorrow? Those who have the privilege make all your
steps with God, at work, at home. When
challenges come in your life, do you make steps with God? Tell God, “This step is so hard, please hold
my hand and pull me”
We built a house for my mum. Someone sold that house by forgery and the
new owner said, “You must leave my house”. This is like our lives. God has given our lives and all we deserve
but we give it to satan and he claims our lives. When you give place to satan to control our
lives, it is like someone who is addicted to alcohol.
On judgement day, you will have to come on
the stage, “Angela come before the throne, what did you?” and the whole world
is watching you. You won’t be able to
blame others. Present your problems to God
and remember that this is only one step and it will pass. Don’t make permanent decisions for a
temporary situation.
